The present invention relates to the quality of telecommunication connections, and more specifically to the selection of quality by the subscriber.
At present, a user in a telephone network is not able to choose the level of quality of a connection to be set up. For some connections a high quality may be important, or desirable, whereas for other connections a poorer quality may be acceptable. If the quality levels are associated with different cost levels, the selection of quality levels may enable the users in a telephone network to affect their telephone costs.
Different types of telecommunication networks, in addition to the traditional Public Services Telephone Network (PSTN), are being used to an increasing degree. The standard quality of the connections varies between the networks. For example, most mobile telephone networks use a lower bandwidth than the PSTN network. When making calls between different networks, it may be desirable to adapt the quality of the whole connection to the part of the connection having the poorest quality level. In this way, the subscriber can save money, and network resources may be used in a more efficient way.
For data connections, parameters such as bandwidth and bit error rate may be important when selecting the quality needed for a connection.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,395 describes a system for selecting a telephone line for a connection. Information about the rates for different carriers is stored in a database. When a call is to be made, the information in the database is checked and the lowest cost carrier is selected.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,914 describes a system for automatically selecting the least expensive telephone line for a connection.
International patent application WO 88/07797 describes a device to be used with ordinary telephones for selecting one of a number of carriers for telephone connections. It is mentioned that the least expensive carrier may not always be selected, for quality reasons. As the invention involves a device to be connected to the telephone, it only works with traditional PSTN telephones.
None of the three above mentioned documents describes how to determine the quality of a connection in advance.
It is an object of the present invention to enable a person making a phone call to select the quality of service.
It is another object of the present invention to enable a people to influence the cost of making telephone calls.
It is still another object to enable a user in a telephone network to get information about the quality levels available for telephone connections.
It is yet another object of the invention to enable the selection of the quality of service before the call is made or during the call.
These and other objects are achieved according to the invention by a method for enabling a user of a telephone service to select the quality level of a connection, said method comprising the following steps:
manually specifying the desired quality level,
automatically setting up the call with the specified quality level.
To assist the user when selecting the quality, a voice sample of the user or a prerecorded voice sample with specified quality levels may be played back to the user as a reference before the selection of a quality level. Alternatively, the user may be informed about transmission parameters associated with specified quality levels before the selection of a quality level.
A service control point for carrying out said method in a telecommunication network is also disclosed, said service control point comprising:
means for receiving information from a service switching point about the desired quality of service for a connection in the telecommunications network, and
means for instructing the SSP to adjust the quality of service of a connection in the telecommunications network.
A service switching point in a telecommunication network is also disclosed, said service switching point being adapted to
receive instructions from a user as to the desired quality of a connection,
forward the instructions received from the user to the SCP 9
receive instructions from the SCP 9 and
set up or change the connection in accordance with the instructions received from the SCP.
The invention offers the following advantages: Users in a telecommunication network are enabled to select the connection quality and affect their telephone costs.
The invention may be used with any kind of telephone, including mobile telephones, computer based telephones and coin telephones.